A simple perylene diimide derivative with a highly twisted geometry as an electron acceptor for efficient organic solar cells

Shuixing Li; Wenqing Liu; Chang-Zhi Li; Feng Liu; Yingzhu Zhang; Minmin Shi; Hongzheng Chen; Thomas P. Russell

doi:10.1039/C6TA04232E

A simple perylene diimide derivative with a highly twisted geometry as an electron acceptor for efficient organic solar cells†

Shuixing Li,‡^a Wenqing Liu,‡^a Chang-Zhi Li,^a Feng Liu,*^bc Yingzhu Zhang,^a Minmin Shi,*^a Hongzheng Chen*^a and Thomas P. Russell^d

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* Corresponding authors

^a MOE Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, P. R. China
E-mail: minminshi@zju.edu.cn, hzchen@zju.edu.cn

^b Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P. R. China
E-mail: fengliu82@sjtu.edu.cn

^c Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

^d Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

Abstract

Perylene diimide (PDI), which features intense absorption, a low-lying energy level, and high electron mobility, is a promising building block for electron acceptors in organic solar cells (OSCs). However, this planar molecule has a strong tendency to form large aggregates during film formation which strongly limits its OSC performance. Herein, we report a new and simple PDI derivative, B(PDI)₃, in which a central benzene unit is employed to connect three PDI arms. This compact arrangement of sterically bulky PDI moieties leads to a twisted molecular geometry of the resultant structure. This suppresses the strong crystallization tendency of PDI chromophores, owing to the broken molecular coplanarity and symmetry. Therefore, B(PDI)₃ is applied as a non-fullerene acceptor in OSCs, providing a good power conversion efficiency of 5.65% when blended with the PTB7-Th donor.

This article is part of the themed collection: JMC A Editor’s choice collection: Recent advances in photovoltaics

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA04232E
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 21 May 2016
Accepted: 13 Jun 2016
First published: 14 Jun 2016

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J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 10659-10665

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A simple perylene diimide derivative with a highly twisted geometry as an electron acceptor for efficient organic solar cells

S. Li, W. Liu, C. Li, F. Liu, Y. Zhang, M. Shi, H. Chen and T. P. Russell, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 10659 DOI: 10.1039/C6TA04232E

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A

A simple perylene diimide derivative with a highly twisted geometry as an electron acceptor for efficient organic solar cells†

Abstract

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A simple perylene diimide derivative with a highly twisted geometry as an electron acceptor for efficient organic solar cells

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